Meet a Road Warrior: Brian Crowley-Koch

Next up in our road warrior interview series, I tapped the shoulder of a friend of mine, Brian Crowley-Koch, who has a unique perspective as a road warrior. As a consultant he is flying to the same locations every week (Mobile, Ala.; Houston and Pittsburgh) to work directly with his clients, but always runs into something interesting on his flights.

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Savvy Traveler: What do you always have to have with you when you fly?
BC: Well of course I always have to have my phone with me, and I’m a big reader so my Kindle is a must have as well. Although since my Mobile trip starts on Monday I do a lot of sleeping mostly.

Savvy Traveler: Best/worst airport?
BC: Best airports for me are more global when I vacation. Two that stick out are the Amsterdam Schiphol airport and the Hong Kong airport. Schiphol is easy to navigate, has good shops and a mall outside with easy public transportation. Hong Kong has easy public transportation and a beautiful view of the mountains.

Brian Crowley-Koch

From a U.S. perspective New Orleans is by far my least favorite. They have no good food options, nor any healthy food options. To top it all off restaurants have strange hours making it even more difficult to get a good meal. Plus they always have construction going on, which makes everything from getting to the airport to being in the airport frustrating. Although, nothing tops the Kuwait airport that I had to use for my previous job. Not very clean from the bathroom to the gate area and the duty free shopping is horrible.

Savvy Traveler: Have you sat next to or seen anyone famous on your plane?
BC: I’ve had a couple encounters with some famous people, while others are just noteworthy. Hulk Hogan was on my flight to Tampa Bay and I flew to Mobile with the entire coaching staff of the Carolina Panthers. Also do you remember that Carnival cruise disaster on the Triumph? I had a bunch of those passengers on my flight chatting about their experience and had their tickets sticking out of their backpacks as a sort of badge I guess.

Savvy Traveler: What tips would you give any traveler?
BC: My No. 1 biggest pet peeve is the jumping up when the seatbelt sign goes off at the gate, especially when you’re in the back. Relax people!

Also spend the $25 on your suitcase so you don’t look like an idiot tying up the plane trying to get your suitcase in the overhead, or being in last group with no chance of getting it on. I think it’s worth the money to avoid the trouble and just go sit down. I travel a lot and have never lost my luggage; I think the airlines have gotten better.

Finally don’t talk to the guy next to you if you’re not going to talk about something positive. It’s not that great of a conversation just complaining about the airline.

Savvy Traveler: What’s the craziest shenanigans you’ve ever seen or experienced?
BC: The ones that stick out are those people that talk super loud on their phone. I’ve heard some serious conversations from a woman complaining to a friend how someone she knew put her boyfriend in jail and said she was going to cut them. To another woman complaining about her baby daddy issues with very colorful language.

A more recent and new one for me, was a guy clipping his nails next to me and then … Well, it’s a bit too gross. Just keep that to your bathroom.

Savvy Traveler: When you are booking travel for business what do you care about?
BC: The least amount of travel time is what I focus on. So direct flights are my go-to as much as possible.